2019 UCLA Latin American, Latinx and Iberian Film Festival: Women's Voices

The 7th edition of the festival celebrates women filmmakers and features ten films from directors from Chile, Mexico, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Spain and the United States.

Spanish films include Amaren Eskuak, La Invitación, Carmen y Lola, Tryouts, and Bienvenido Mr.Kaita. All screenings will be followed by a Q&A session with the film’s directors and different professors from UCLA.

Tryouts

• Triple screening of Susana Casares’ Tryouts and La invitación, and Mireira Gabilondo’s Amaren eskuak.
• On Tuesday, April 16 at 12:30 pm. Free, RSVP required.
• Directed by Susana Casares, Spain / USA, 2013, 14 minutes.
• In English, Spanish and Arabic with English Subtitles. Watch trailer.

Being a teenager isn’t easy, especially for Nayla, a Muslim American girl who wants to join her new high school’s cheerleading squad.

La Invitación

• Triple screening of Susana Casares’ Tryouts and La invitación, and Mireira Gabilondo’s Amaren eskuak.
• On Tuesday, April 16 at 12:45 pm. Free, RSVP required.
• Directed by Susana Casares, Spain / USA, 2016, 15 minutes.
• In Spanish with English subtitles. Watch trailer.

Pushed by the fear of losing her friends, 10-year-old Silvia has invited them to a sleepover, but things can be complicated when your home is not exactly what your friends may call a home.

Amaren Eskuak

• Triple screening of Susana Casares’ Tryouts and La invitación, and Mireira Gabilondo’s Amaren eskuak.
• On Tuesday, April 16 at 1:30 pm. Free, RSVP required.
• Directed by Mireira Gabilondo, Spain, 2013.
• In Basque, Spanish, and English with English subtitles. Watch trailer.

Nerea, thirty-eight-year-old mother who works in a daily newsroom, struggles to reconcile her family and professional life. The precarious balance finally falls to pieces when her mother, Luisa, is taken into hospital. Nerea feels guilty for not having reacted earlier to the first symptoms of her mother’s memory loss. Now she can only watch as Luisa goes back in time into the past. Nerea will learn part of her mother’s hidden life and discover similarities in their experiences, stirring up the ghosts that live in the memories of both women.

Bienvenido Mister Kaita

• Double screening of Reencuentros: 2501 migrantes (Mexico, 2009), directed by Yolanda Cruz, and Bienvenido Mister Kaita (Spain, 2006), written by Helena Medina.
• On Wednesday, April 17 at 3:30 pm. Free, RSVP required.
• Directed by Albert Albacete, Spain, 2006, 80 minutes.
• In Spanish English subtitles. Watch trailer.

Saggi Kaita, his wife and three children (born in Spain), along with his brother, Mahamadou, travel home to their village, Diabugu, Gambia, for the first time since they emigrated to Spain over ten years ago. The reason behind the journey is the wedding of Mahamadou and the woman to whom he had become engaged before emigrating.

Carmen y Lola

• Double screening of Mosquita y Mari (United States, 2012) by Aurora Guerrero and Carmen y Lola (Spain, 2018) by Arantxa Etxebarría.
• On Thursday, April 18 at 12 pm. Free, RSVP required.
• Directed by Arantxa Echevarria, Spain, 2018, 103 minutes.
• In Spanish with English subtitles. Watch trailer.

Making her feature film debut, writer-director Arantxa Echevarria creates an impassioned love story both universal and sharply specific, following the blossoming romance of two young gypsy girls. Carmen (Rosy Rodriguez) and Lola (Zaira Morales) find freedom in each other’s company as they experience a true sense of identity for the first time. But as their relationship grows deeper, they face fallout from Madrid’s traditional Roma community.